Strs Ohio Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Strs Ohio lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 898,708 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 77,914 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.4% of Strs Ohio’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $659,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,694,644,000 after purchasing an additional 262,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective (up previously from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $847.98.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat + AI narrative shift: Meta reported stronger?than?expected Q4 revenue and EPS and management framed ad strength as early proof that AI investments are improving monetization and engagement — a narrative some analysts now call an AI profit cycle. Meta’s Story Just Flipped — Seeking Alpha
• Positive Sentiment: Strong guidance & analyst upgrades: Q1 revenue guidance topped Street expectations and many firms raised price targets or reiterated buys, supporting the recent rally and giving institutional investors cover to support higher valuations. MarketBeat: Meta Soars After?Hours
• Neutral Sentiment: Business diversification tests: Meta is piloting premium subscriptions for Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp and expanding AI features — potential long?term upside but unclear near?term revenue impact. CNBC: Premium subscription tests
• Neutral Sentiment: Supply deals validate buildout but signal capital intensity: large supplier agreements (e.g., with Corning) back the AI data?center plan while confirming heavy multi?year spending. CNBC: Corning deal
• Negative Sentiment: Massive 2026 CapEx: Management guided to $115B–$135B of capex for 2026 — far above prior levels — raising near?term cash intensity and margin dilution concerns despite management saying operating income should hold. Reuters: CapEx rise
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs drag: XR/Reality Labs continues to burn cash (multi?billion losses), creating an ongoing margin headwind and execution risk for non?ad businesses. TechCrunch: $19B VR burn
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory & reputational headlines: A New Mexico trial alleging platforms exposed minors to exploitation and reports about content?blocking controversies add legal and reputational risk that can pressure multiple?quarter sentiment. Reuters: New Mexico trial
• Negative Sentiment: Near?term profit?taking & headline noise: high short?term expectations after the rally, occasional pundit criticism (e.g., Jim Cramer) and small insider sales add to volatility and can push the stock down after its run. 247WallSt: Jim Cramer critique

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 40,113 shares of company stock valued at $24,621,042 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $716.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $652.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $696.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.